Healing
by Storybook Sayo
Summary: After war, there are wounds. Physical and mental. Unsolved problems, ignored feeling. Memories. You can try to run, to forget, but it won' t work. Eventually, you'll know: you need to heal. No matter how much it hurts. Antiseptic hurts, but is necessary. Demigods get hurt too. But in they end, everyone heals. No matter how long it takes. (T cuz paranoid&idk where the story's going)


"No! You can't take her!" Percy cried, trying to reach out to somehow get Annabeth back.

An evil laugh came from the ground, the walls, the ceiling. The whole pit chuckled darkly.

"Percy! Where are you!" Annabeth screamed.

"Here!" Percy tried to say but he knew she couldn't hear him.

"Now, I'm going to drown her in… hmm… the Lethe? Or the Cocytus? Perhaps the Acheron?"

Percy shuddered.

"No, I am going to let you pick, Perseus. Styx or Cocytus or Acheron?"

"None!" Percy shouted.

"Oh, no, little demigod, that won't do. I suppose I must pick for you then. I pick… the Acheron! Terribly ironic, having your girlfriend drown, isn't it, son of Poseidon!"

"NO! I WILL SAVE HER!" Percy leapt forwards, only to see Annabeth being pushed into the Acheron, the river of pain.

She kicked to the surface, swimming for a few minutes, but then suddenly a strong current pushed her down below. She struggled to come up to the top, and just as she opened her mouth to take a breath, water entered her mouth. She coughed, sputtering. Finally, she had no more strength to fight, and simply let herself be swallowed by pain, drowning in the river.

"ANNABETH!" Percy shouted.

Percy awoke with a start.

Just another dream about Tartarus, he thought to himself. Calm down.

Still, he couldn't go back to sleep and face his dreams again.

He decided to take a shower and relax in the water.

I mean, what else could he do at 2:16 am?

"No, no! He can't be dying! You said you could cure him!" Annabeth said, panicked.

"I tried my best, but this is Tartarus. Demigods are not meant to be here. It won't work," Damasen said, sorrowfully.

Annabeth looked down at Percy's dying face, his half-closed eyelids.

"Are you ok?" she said softly.

"He can't hear you," Damasen whispered to her.

It was all her fault. He had come because of her. Because she was a stupid daughter of Athena who hadn't even thought of the loose strands of Arachne's web around her ankle.

And now… now he was doing to die without even knowing she was there for him.

She kissed him, but his lips were cold.

He was dead.

Annabeth sobbed.

Tears streamed down her face.

"Annabeth, it's just a dream," whispered Malcolm.

Annabeth was crying in her sleep.

Malcolm had a brief internal debate, then decided to wake her up.

"He's dead," Annabeth muttered, as Malcolm woke her.

"It's just a dream," Malcolm whispered soothingly.

"But i-it felt so real," Annabeth replied, wiping her tears.

She took a deep breath, regained her usual composure, and asked, "What time is it?"

Malcolm looked at the clock and answered, "3:27 am"

Annabeth sighed, and said, "Thanks for waking me up, Malcolm. Try to get some sleep."

"Will you be okay? I mean, are you going back to sleep?" Malcolm said worriedly.

"I'll read a book or something," Annabeth said.

Malcolm looked unsure, but then decided to sleep.

"Alone. Again," chanted the spirits.

"Shut up!" replied Nico.

"You can't even enter your father's realm," they retorted.

"Shut up!" repeated Nico.

"What have we got here?" Ephialtes said. "A son of Hades, huh?"

Nico, looked around, wondering where he could escape.

"You are scared, aren't you? Even though you're in your father's realm!" he smirked.

Nico clenched his fist, but tried to cool his temper. There was no way he could win a fight now, in Tartarus.

"Worthless little demigod. Yet somehow your friends care for you… So you are useful, for now, as bait," Ephialtes said.

"Wait!" Otis cried. "Can you dance?"

Nico looked at Otis, who was dressed in a tutu, considering.

"I can dance a bit," he said decisively.

"Then he must dance!" Otis said. "He isn't useless!"

"You idiot!" Ephialtes exclaimed. "He can dance in the jar!"

Nico backed up. Was he hallucinating?

"Jar…" he wondered aloud. "You don't want to put me in a jar, do you? I won't fit."

"No, no. Do not worry, I had it custom made for you," Ephialtes said.

"I…" Nico tried to think of something to distract Otis and Ephialtes. "I don't think I could dance in the jar."

"No, no. We'll make sure you can. Is it because you don't have a tutu like mine?" Otis asked. He turned to his brother. "I told you I needed to bring my dance attire!"

"I can't dance without it," Nico said, trying to buy time.

"You see?" Otis said.

"Shut up. That's not important. Besides, we can get his tutu when he's in the jar, and give it to him," Ephialtes said.

Otis nodded. He took out the jar, opening the lid.

Nico felt himself being sucked into the jar.

He wanted to yell, scream, fight. But he couldn't.

Because he was useless.

Worthless.

A single tear ran down Nico's cheek.

He took ragged breaths.

"Nico? Are you okay?" Hazel, who was staying over at CHB for the week, asked.

"Worthless," he muttered in a broken voice.

"Nico? Nico!" she cried. "Wake up! Wake up, you're dreaming!"

Nico stirred in his sleep. "Useless… no, please, not the jar…"

"Nico!" Hazel shook him, and he jerked awake.

"Hazel? Wha-what? Was it just a dream? Again? Oh, gods…" he muttered rapidly.

"Nico… are you ok?" Hazel asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Nico said sadly.

"Well, what, um, what do you want to do? I mean, it's 3:50 in the morning… So do you want to sleep or…" Hazel trailed off.

Nico smiled at his sister. "Thanks Hazel. I'll be fine. Get your beauty sleep."

Hazel went back to sleep.

Nico sighed wondering what to do.

Read? Too tired.

Sleep? Too many nightmares.

Take a shower? Too cold.

Shadow travel? Takes too much energy. But…

Shadow travel to dining pavilion and get some food? Now THAT was a good idea.

Nico sighed. This was what happened when you went to Tartarus.

The next morning, Annabeth, Percy and Nico all came to breakfast with dark circles under their eyes. They could barely concentrate on training.

Malcolm and Hazel looked especially worried.

At lunch, when Annabeth almost dropped her plate (yes, Annabeth!), Chiron took the three of them into the Big House.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Annabeth replied bravely.

"Chiron…" Nico whispered.

Chiron looked at him. He looked like he could drop any minute.

Annabeth looked at Chiron. "I… I haven't gotten enough sleep. That's all."

Percy looked at Annabeth, who stared at the floor.

"You too?" he said.

Annabeth nodded slowly.

"What are you talking about? Why haven't you all been able to sleep?" Chiron asked.

"Well… for me, I don't know about them…" Nico began then hesitated.

"Go on," said Chiron gently.

"Dreams," he muttered. "Nightmares."

"Percy? Annabeth? What about you?" Chiron asked.

"Same," Percy said.

Annabeth nodded, "Me too."

"Can I ask if you have the same dream every night, or…?" Chiron asked hesitantly.

Annabeth replied, "Well, usually the same kind of stuff happens…Details are different, though. Once in awhile, they're different, but usually the same."

"Nico? Percy?" Chiron inquired.

"There's like a few types, but always one of them. Like Annabeth said, different details, same stuff. Different ones come sometimes, but rarely," Percy said.

"Same as Percy and Annabeth," Nico said.

"Do you know if… if you have the, err, the same dream? All of you?" Chiron wondered aloud.

"No, we don't," They all said.

Chiron wrinkled his brow. "How do you know?"

"Mine's about Percy dying," Annabeth said softly. "Well, I mean, he's dead. In Tartarus."

Percy and Chiron both looked pained. Nico stared at the floor.

Chiron nodded. "Percy? If you don't mind…"

"Annabeth being pushed into a river, and dying, while she's under the curse. A river in Tartarus, like last night, it was the Acheron. But she's under Calypso's curse, so she doesn't know I'm there… and she drowns. Even though, I'm a son of Poseidon," Percy mutters.

"Seaweed Brain…" Annabeth said.

Nico looked away.

"Nico?" Chiron asked.

"Um… I'm in the underworld, being taunted because I'm scared of Tartarus, like the place, even though it's part of the Underworld, my dad's realm. Then they come…" Nico took a breath. "Ephialtes and Otis. Trap me in the jar. Calling me useless, worthless… Last night Hazel woke me up then, but usually, in the jar, I suffocate. Black out. Have nightmares inside nightmares."

"Is there anything you can think of that could help you?" Chiron asked the three of them.

"It doesn't matter for me," Nico said. "All I want is for Hazel to not have to wake up for me."

"Malcolm. He… he's starting to wake up every night around 1 am to see if I'm ok, and stays up until I start showing signs of having a nightmare. He wakes me up, and I tell him to sleep," Annabeth said. "He shouldn't lose sleep for me."

"Percy? How do you awake?" Chiron asked.

Percy frowned. "I don't know… I just wake up by myself, I guess."

"Well, I'll try to think of something," Chiron said. "You all can go eat your lunch."

At dinner, Malcolm went up to Chiron, and whispered something to him.

"Malcolm, that's against camp rules. I cannot allow that, especially since they are dating, and are teenagers," Chiron said.

"Oh my gods, who cares? It's probably against the rules for demigods to go to Tartarus! They did! Cut them some slack. Besides, even if something happens, it's going to happen anyway, at some point, somewhere or the other," Malcolm said.

"I will consider it," conceded Chiron.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Characters obviously belong to the great Rick Riordan!


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